IBM Support

Collecting Data: IDS Connection Hang Information

Question & Answer


Question

What information should be collected when you experience a problem with your software? Collecting data for a Connection Hang. Collecting this information before calling IBM support will help you understand the problem and save time analyzing the data.

Answer


Collecting general information

For IBM® Informix® products, gather the following information for any problem:

General Information to collect for Informix Family product problems

Collecting data for diagnosing engine hangs on versions prior to 11.70.xC1

IDS connection hang information

  • Do client applications just hang or some returned an error code/message after a certain amount of time? List any error or warning message reported at the time on the system console or the operating system logs.
  • Did you change the authentication method (e.g.: enabled LDAP, used a custom PAM service)?
  • Does the problem affect:
    • Only remote connections or local connections as well ?
    • Already established connections, new connection attempts or both types?
    • All types of connections or just some (shared memory , tcp/ip, pipes). ?
    • All instances present on the machine or just some ?
  • If it affects tcp connections, did you change anything in the network, in particular DNS configuration such as:
    • Changed topology
    • Added/modified configuration of routers or firewalls.
    • Added/replaced network cards.
  • Does the system show other symptoms like:
    • Excessive swap/paging activity
    • Excessive CPU or Disk usage
    • Generally crippled performance


Processes to run for versions prior to 11.70.xC1
  • onstat -a ,to be run twice, 10 seconds apart , to get a detailed view of the instance and of what changes with time
  • Might need "onstat -g all" ran in the same manner as above
  • onstat -g stk all ,to be run twice, 10 seconds apart
  • Get "onstat -g act", then gather stack traces for the running threads with "kill -7 <pid>" or "onmode -X s <VP#>". One thing to look out for is the MSC VP running all the time, usually a DNS issue.
  • netstat -a and netstat -na to see all the network connections at system level both as names and numbers.

On UNIX or Linux, run these additional commands:
  • uname -a
  • ls -lat /INFORMIXTMP
  • ipcs
  • ifconfig (to get the IP addresses linked to the machine)

    • Note: The ifconfig command is OS dependent and is different for some UNIX systems, such as:
    • Solaris and AIX: ifconfig -a
    • Linux : ifconfig
    • HP-UX : ifconfig interface_name to run for each interface in the list returned by lanscan -i

On Windows, run these additional commands:
  • ipconfig /all
  • open the informix utility setnet32 and use the button "Save to file..." to export the configuration


Files to collect for versions prior to 11.70.xC1
  • The instance log file ( the location of which is MSGPATH value in the instance configuration file)
  • Any assertion failure files generated by the instance around the time when the problem started

On UNIX or Linux, also collect the sqlhosts file used (pointed by the variable $INFORMIXSQLHOSTS . If the variable is not defined, the file is located at $INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts

On Windows, collect the exported configuration from setnet32.

Collecting data for diagnosing connection hangs on versions 11.70.xC1 and above

In versions of the Informix Server engine 11.70.xC1 and above ifxcollect can be used to gather diagnostic information. To gather the information execute the following command while experiencing the connection hang:

$INFORMIXDIR/bin/ifxcollect -c connection -s hang

Executing ifxcollect will create a tar file in $INFORMIXDIR/isa/data that can be uploaded to IBM for review. The format of the file is ifxcollect.<timestamp>.tar. Uploading the file can be accomplished using any of the methods described in the "Submitting information to IBM Support section".

For additional information on ifxcollect see the following link:

Collecting data with the ifxcollect tool


Submitting information to IBM Support

Once you have collected your information, you can begin Problem Determination through the product Support web page, or simply submit the diagnostic information to IBM support.

You can submit files using one of following methods to help speed problem diagnosis:
  • IBM Support Assistant (ISA)
  • Electronic Service Request (ESR)
  • FTP to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep)

See the Related information article, Submitting diagnostic information to IBM Technical Support for problem determination

[{"Product":{"code":"SSGU8G","label":"Informix Servers"},"Business Unit":{"code":"BU053","label":"Cloud & Data Platform"},"Component":"Not Applicable","Platform":[{"code":"PF002","label":"AIX"},{"code":"PF010","label":"HP-UX"},{"code":"PF016","label":"Linux"},{"code":"PF027","label":"Solaris"},{"code":"PF033","label":"Windows"}],"Version":"10.0;11.1;11.5;7.3;9.4;11.7","Edition":"","Line of Business":{"code":"LOB10","label":"Data and AI"}}]

Document Information

Modified date:
16 June 2018

UID

swg21271473

Page Feedback